smudge

English

WOTD – 7 January 2010

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /smʌdʒ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌdʒ

Etymology 1

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Chambers 1908: "Swedish smuts dirt, Danish smuds smut, German Schmutz"”)

Noun

smudge (countable and uncountable, plural smudges)

1. A blemish or smear, especially a dark or sooty one.

   There was a smudge on the paper.

2. Dense smoke, such as that used for fumigation.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Grose to this entry?)

3. (US) A heap of damp combustibles partially ignited and burning slowly, placed on the windward side of a house, tent, etc. to keep off mosquitoes or other insects.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Bartlett to this entry?)

4. (paganism, especially in the phrase "smudge stick" = "stick of incense") A quantity of herbs used in suffumigation.
   • 2006, Christian Rätsch, ‎Claudia Müller-Ebeling, Pagan Christmas: The Plants, Spirits, and Rituals →ISBN:

     Devil's dirt or asafetida ground together with fenugreek and black cumin seed is used as a smudge against witches and […]

Synonyms

• (blemish, smear): blur, smear, stain

Derived terms

• smudge attack

Translations

a blemish; a smear

• Czech: šmouha f
• Finnish: tahra (fi), läiskä (fi)
• French: bavure (fr) f
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: Fleck (de) m
• Italian: sbavatura f
• Latin: litūra f
• Russian: пятно́ (ru) n (pjatnó)
• Spanish: borrón (es) m, tiznón (es) m, tiznajo (es) m, chafarrinada (es) f, chafarrinón m

dense smoke, such as used for fumigation

• Finnish: paksu savu
• Georgian: კოცონი (ḳoconi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: fumo (it) m
• Spanish: palo fumigador m

Etymology 2

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English smogen.

Verb

1. To obscure by blurring; to smear.
2. To soil or smear with dirt.
3. To use dense smoke to protect from insects.
4. To stifle or smother with smoke.
5. (paganism, intransitive) To burn herbs as a cleansing ritual (suffumigation).
6. (paganism, transitive) To subject to ritual burning of herbs (suffumigation, smudging).
   • 2013, Rachel Patterson, Pagan Portals - Hoodoo: Folk Magic →ISBN:

     This is easily done using incense to smudge yourself or taking a cleansing bath. To smudge your body use an incense mixture such as sandalwood, lavender, frankincense or myrrh.

Synonyms

• (to obscure by blurring): blur, smear
• (to soil or smear with dirt): smutch, soil
• (to use smoke against insects): fumigate

Translations

to obscure by blurring

• Czech: zamazat
• Finnish: tuhria (fi), töhriä (fi), tahria (fi)
• French: maculer (fr)
• German: verschmieren (de), verwischen (de)
• Italian: opacizzare (it), oscurare (it)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latin: dēlinō
• Maori: ukupara
• Russian: разма́зывать (ru) impf (razmázyvatʹ), разма́зать (ru) pf (razmázatʹ)
• Spanish: desenfocar (es), macular (es), difuminar (es)

to soil or smear with dirt

• Finnish: töhriä (fi)
• German: verschmieren (de), verwischen (de)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Maori: ukupara
• Russian: па́чкать (ru) impf (páčkatʹ), испа́чкать (ru) pf (ispáčkatʹ), мара́ть (ru) impf (marátʹ), замара́ть (ru) pf (zamarátʹ),

to use dense smoke to protect from insects

• Finnish: savuttaa (fi), savustaa (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Related terms

• smudgily
• smudginess
• smudgy

Anagrams

• Mudges, degums